Morning Call: February 6, 2004

The state secretary of transportation said Thursday that PennDOT hopes to rebuild a crippled bridge on northbound Route 33 by the end of the summer.

In a crowded room at the Memorial Library of Nazareth, Secretary Allen D. Biehler said the Northampton County bridge, which was closed Jan. 24 when it partially sank into a sinkhole in the Bushkill Creek, could cost up to $6 million to fix.

All or most of the money may come from the U.S. Department of Transportation's emergency disaster fund, said Biehler, who was joined by representatives of the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers.

"We hoped initially to stabilize the bridge, do what it takes to stop it from sinking," said Biehler, who addressed residents at the request of area legislators. "[But] this was a sinkhole that seemed to have no end to it."

Sinkholes form when rain and snow-melt penetrate the ground to the point that the limestone beneath the surface is flushed away to the groundwater table below. A hole is left.

Sharon Hill, a geologist with the DEP's Pottsville mining office, said sinkhole formations quicken because of development, storm water redirection, drainage, wells and quarries.

PennDOT is leaning toward building the Route 33 bridge with a single span across the creek and connecting its pillars to solid rock, said Biehler. During the new bridge's construction, he said, PennDOT may shore up the south bridge to solid rock too because both spans were built with shallow foundations.

"We hope to have this project into the bidding stage so that we can have a contractor identified during the month of March," said Biehler. "Our target is to finish this thing by the end of summer."

The nearby small Stockertown-Tatamy bridge, which was closed in 2000 after part of it collapsed into sinkholes, was not a PennDOT priority because of the small number of cars that drive over it, he said.

"When the emergency happened, we put it in the "more normal' bridge problem," Biehler said. "One in four bridges in the state is in some form of disrepair."

One resident asked why PennDOT built the Route 33 bridge 34 years ago without connecting it to solid rock.

Gary Hoffman, deputy secretary for highway administration, answered: "It was standard practice then, economic practice then."

Biehler said PennDOT has not found sinkholes under Route 33's southbound bridge, which is separated from the northbound side by about 50 feet.

The detour, which winds through the Nazareth and Stockertown areas, may be lifted Monday if contractors finish a crossover that will divert northbound traffic onto one of the two southbound lanes, he said. Route 33's northbound off-ramp for the Route 191 exit will be closed for safety while the crossover is in effect, he added.

Walter E. Bortree, PennDOT's Lehigh Valley district executive, said the state will post road signs at various locations to alert drivers of nearby businesses that have become affected by construction. PennDOT may also erect traffic lights at certain intersections to alleviate congestion.

The state Department of Environmental Protection and the Army Corps pledged a joint effort to study the sinkhole problem that has plagued residents for three and a half years along the borders of Palmer Township, Stockertown and Tatamy. But both agencies cautioned that the study will take time and money, and probably will not be able to stop sinkhole development in and around the creek.

"My axiom is you can't design a trap until you know the size of the animal," said Jody Brogna, environmental cleanup program manager for DEP's Wilkes-Barre office. "Once we learn exactly what the problem is, then we can move forward and hopefully come up with some good answers."

Hill said the Pottsville mining office first studied the area's sinkholes in 2000. She said DEP's policy is to treat every sinkhole report as a separate incident, but "it's becoming more apparent now that it really is something that needs a broad view, and it very well might be interconnected."

Finding the cause of the sinkholes around the Bushkill Creek will be hard, Hill said, because Northampton County does not keep records of groundwater levels. Without such records, it is difficult to pinpoint whether three quarries affect the surrounding groundwater table when they pump water out of their pits.

Hill said DEP does not have the money to drill wells to test the groundwater level. Nor does DEP have the authority to do it on private land.

"When you are dealing with sinkholes and what is going on underground, it'll drive you nuts," she said.

Steve Esack